Shocker: 70 Percent Say GOP Not ‘In Touch With Most Americans’

Shocker: 70 Percent Say GOP Not ‘In Touch With Most Americans’

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A new ABC/Washington Post poll shows that the Republican Party has alienated itself from both the American public and its base.

Only 23 percent say the GOP is “in touch with most Americans,” less than half who say the same about President Obama, at 51 percent.

But 70 percent, nearly 3 out of 4 Americans, say the GOP is not in touch with the public.

The dissatisfaction with Republicans includes voters with whom they have typically performed the strongest.

“Among residents of the red states, those Obama lost by 6 or more points in 2012, 68 percent say the GOP is out of touch with the concerns of most Americans,” according to the report produced by Langer Research Associates.

Even 55 percent of “very” conservative voters and 64 percent of “evangelical” voters agree Republicans are not “in touch.”

It’s difficult to assess if the GOP base’s dissatisfaction comes from their party’s stand on the issues, which is generally out of touch with the public, or the sense that it may be about to compromise on issues like immigration or gun safety, where the base generally opposes the proposed legislation.

Americans support a path to citizenship for non-citizen immigrants by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. This was true whether respondents were asked about “illegal immigrants” or “undocumented immigrants,” the term preferred by the immigrant community and recently adopted by the Associated Press.

Nearly 9 out of 10, 86 percent, of Americans support extending background checks to gun shows and online sales. Bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines also have majority support at 56 percent despite their dismal chances of becoming law under the current Congress.

President Obama’s overall approval is steady at 50 percent, but 53 percent disapprove of his handling of the economy. Exactly two-thirds, 67 percent, say that jobs are difficult to find in their community, which is actually the lowest percentage to express similar pessimism in this poll since 2008.

One-third say they’ve been personally hurt by the automatic budget cuts negotiated during the debt limit crisis of 2011. That’s up 8 percent from last month. And 57 percent say they disapprove of the cuts, while about 6 out of 10 Democrats and Republicans say the sequester is hurting the economy.

Notably, the president’s proposal to change the cost-of-living index on Social Security to “Chained CPI” is opposed by majorities in both parties by a 51-37 percent margin, with 64 percent of seniors opposing.

14 Comments

SMALLER GOVERNMENT
Half of discretionary spending goes for defense.
Half goes to mandatory spending.
All the budget plans, so far, puts spending at lowest percent of GDP since 1962.
Since that date, non-defense spending has never been less than 16%.
The budgets on hand reduce it to 11.5% of GDP by 2023.
The trend has been for Mandatory to increase more than non-Mandatory

There is absolutely no doubt that we simply aren’t spending enough of the Chinese’s money on welfare. We need more programs that kill jobs because we still have way too many people trying to find work, including gobs of college graduates who majored in subjects Bill Ayers teaches. We need more high paid bureaucrats to create more regulations because there are still evil rich companies and a few smaller ones. We can’t stop until everyone is equally poor in this country. Equality for all!

montanabill
There is absolutely no doubt that we simply aren’t spending enough of the Chinese’s money on welfare. We need more programs that kill jobs because we still have way too many people trying to find work, including gobs of college graduates who majored in subjects Bill Ayers teaches. We need more high paid bureaucrats to create more regulations because there are still evil rich companies and a few smaller ones. We can’t stop until everyone is equally poor in this country. Equality for all!
3:15 p.m., Tuesday April 16

Reply to montanabill

montanabill’s comment is in reply to clarenceswinney:

SMALLER GOVERNMENT
Half of discretionary spending goes for defense.
Half goes to mandatory spending.
All the budget plans, so far, puts spending at lowest percent …

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Neither side can job for joy over these results. Yes the GOP sucks more, but is that something to crow about? Our elected folks in Washington have a long way to go before they start representing the wishes and needs of everyday Americans. The learning curve is a straight line for them.

Well, if you think about math and statistics, the best any party could really ever get in terms of approval is about 55-60%. That’s simply because our populace is so diverse that there’s no way to please everybody. So when the Democrats are at 51% ‘in touch,’ I think that’s pretty good.

No government can serve two masters. (And it don’t)
The wealthy one percenters, want low taxes, a smaller government, that
promises less, regulates less, decides fewer issues at the Federal level.
Privatizes public work, whenever possible. And works in concert with the
private sector to keep wages low, worker protections, and employer
responsibilities, at a bare minimum. And any ties, or toss ups, or too
close to calls, automatically go to the person having the biggest bank account.
And they are also really, really, mad. About the unfairness in our tax code.
That punishes those with higher tax rates, simply because they have more
money! Fortunately for this small but plucky minority. They usually have
about 50/51% of those in government looking out for them. And the other
half, works for them all the time.

This study is inconclusive because it could be inferred that those in red states who answered possibly feel that the GOP is not being conservative enough. It is hard to really comment one way or the other without the data.

But I think even those in the conservative camp know that their Party is in serious trouble. The problem is they all have different answers for becoming more competitive. 2016 looks to be very interesting for both Parties.

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